President Donald Trump’s acting head of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Mark Uyeda, was the only member of a five-person panel to vote against suing Elon Musk for missing a key disclosure deadline in 2022, according to Reuters.
Musk missed a cutoff date and filed the wrong paperwork when he bought 9 percent of Twitter in April 2022 before buying the company outright. In January, the agency held a closed-door meeting about whether to sue the Tesla chief, a source told Reuters.
Uyeda, whom Trump named as acting chair of the agency in February, voted against the motion, Reuters reported, citing anonymous sources. Four other commissioners, including Republican Hester Peirce, voted “yes.”
The agency filed suit a week later on Jan. 14, alleging Musk reaped $150 million in unjust enrichment as a result of failing to notify the SEC about his purchase, which kept Twitter’s stock price low as he acquired more of the company. Musk has until April 4 to respond to a summons.
Uyeda, who was nominated in 2022 by former President Joe Biden to serve as an SEC commissioner, also reportedly pressured fellow staffers to sign a pledge that any vote would not be politically motivated, Bloomberg first reported. The publication cited anonymous sources at the SEC who described the move as “very unusual.” The commissioners did not comply with the request, and the vote went ahead.
Reuters' sources said that Uyeda and Pierce thought it was unfair to fine Musk and ask him to return the $150 million he had reaped. However, Pierce still went ahead and voted with the three Democrats on the commission.
Investigators at the SEC even examined whether the agency could prove Musk filed late intentionally. Musk claimed the failure was a mistake, and no charges accusing him of evading the deadline on purpose were filed.
The billionaire has been deposed three times in the case. He testified twice in 2022 but refused to be interviewed a third time. After a year of legal wrangling, he testified for a third time in October.
The agency attempted to reach a settlement with Musk in December, but the effort fell through. The Tesla chief later claimed he was given just two days to agree to pay up or face civil charges.
Uyeda is expected to be succeeded by Trump’s current pick for the head of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Paul Atkins. However, confirmation hearings for Atkins have not yet been scheduled in Congress.
An SEC spokesperson declined to comment. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
